An 18-year-old Chick-fil-A worker in North Carolina made a surprising call after stumbling on nearly $10,000 in cash left behind in the restaurant’s bathroom during his break.

Jayden Cintron was working a routine shift on Good Friday morning when he stepped away and headed to the restroom — and after spotting the money, quickly decided he would return every dollar.

There were two white envelopes near the toilet, one labeled First Citizens Bank and the other Truist Bank, containing a total of $9,333.

“My first thought was just like … ok, no, this isn’t happening,” he told WITN.

“Something is wrong.”

Instead of pocketing the cash, Cintron turned it over to the restaurant’s human resources department so it could be returned to its owner.

Cintron said the discovery initially left him shaken, but his next move came easily.

Asked why he didn’t keep the money for himself, he said: “That’s not what Jesus would’ve done. That’s not what God would’ve wanted.”

The decision stunned those around him, including local law enforcement and the restaurant’s owner, who both said many people would have made a very different choice under the circumstances.

“A lot of people will … unfortunately, take that money and run with it,” Kinston Police Chief Keith Goyette said. 

“Kudos to that employee at Chick-fil-A. He definitely deserves a reward.”

The restaurant’s owner John McPhail added: “True leadership, you know, true integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.

“Jayden did that in this case and he should be commended for it.”

The rightful owner later retrieved the envelopes and offered Cintron a $500 reward for his honesty.

The teen initially refused, saying he didn’t expect anything in return for doing what he believed was right.

After multiple attempts by the owner to insist, Cintron eventually accepted.

Cases like this don’t happen often, but they’re not unheard of.

In 2022, workers at a Tennessee Home Depot tracked down a customer who lost $700 in cash meant for Christmas gifts after an envelope was found on the floor of an aisle.

“We wanted to do the right thing,” Alissa Rocchi, an operations assistant and store manager at Home Depot in Bellevue, said.

In New York City that same year, a good Samaritan returned a wallet containing $4,000 in cash after it was dropped by a commuter in Times Square.

The mother of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin made an emotional plea this week for increased fire department funding before Gaston County officials after she nearly lost her life in a North Carolina blaze that killed her husband in December.

Mary Lou Hamlin, 69, delivered a heartbreaking account of the Dec. 28 house fire that killed her husband, 75-year-old Dennis Hamlin, and reduced the family home to ruins.

Denny Hamlin looks on prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Concord, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley, File)

“I’m sorry, I was trying not to cry,” a tearful Mary Lou Hamlin said as she spoke before the Gaston County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday. 

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“Dec. 28 was one of the saddest days of my life. It was the last time I saw my husband of 52 years when I pulled him out of our burning home. In addition to losing my husband, I lost everything from my entire life.” 

Dennis and Mary Lou Hamlin were found outside the two-story home near Stanley, suffering from what officials at the time called catastrophic injuries. Dennis Hamlin later died from his injuries at a hospital, while his wife was transferred to a specialized hospital in Winston-Salem for treatment of her burn injuries.

NASCAR MOURNS DENNY HAMLIN’S FATHER, SAYS HE ‘SACRIFICED GREATLY’ FOR SON’S CAREER

“I didn’t understand at the time that the firetrucks were there, but not the water,” Mary Lou Hamlin continued Tuesday.

“There was no water to put out my house. I am advocating for funding to be included on this year’s budget – training on emergency response, additional equipment, staffing as you just heard, are just a few things to help strengthen the fire protection in our area in which funds are desperately needed.    

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, exits his car  after the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2, 2025, in Avondale, Arizona. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)

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Denny Hamlin’s sister, Lisa Chapman, also appeared before the board, recalling her shock after arriving on the scene.

“There’s nothing worse than pulling up to the house on fire and seeing everybody standing in the road,” she said through tears. “No water being thrown on the fire.”

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Top Republican in the North Carolina Senate Phil Berger conceded his GOP primary race Tuesday after a second recount left him behind by a mere 23 votes, ending Berger’s long hold on the Triad-area seat and setting up a leadership shake-up in a key battleground state.

“While this was a close race, the voters have spoken, and I congratulate Sheriff Page on his victory,” Berger wrote in a statement Tuesday after the results of the second recount confirmed Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page won the District 26 race.

“Over the past 15 years, Republicans in the General Assembly have fundamentally redefined our state’s outlook and reputation. It has been an honor to play a role in that transformation.”

Berger’s defeat is a major upset in North Carolina politics, particularly after President Donald Trump had endorsed him and fellow state Republicans had reportedly urged Page to end the primary challenge. Unofficial state election results showed Page with 13,135 to Berger’s 13,112.

NC SENATE SHOWDOWN ESCALATES AS TRUMP RALLIES BEHIND WHATLEY TO KEEP GOP SEAT

North Carolina State Republican Leader Phil Berger intends to remain in leadership through the 2026 midterms. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Berger has led the Senate since 2011 and has been one of the state’s most influential Republican figures, while Page’s narrow win is expected to usher in a new era of GOP leadership in the General Assembly.

Page, who had pressed Berger to concede, said voters in Guilford and Rockingham counties had placed their trust in him and called for Republicans to unite ahead of the November general election. Berger will remain in office until January, presiding over the state Senate in one of the nation’s biggest political battleground states.

“Looking ahead, I remain committed to working with my colleagues in the short session to ensure North Carolina continues to be the best state in the nation in which to live, work, raise a family, and retire,” Berger’s concession statement concluded. “In the months ahead, I will also do everything I can to support all Republican Senate candidates and protect our supermajority.”

Trump’s endorsement came several weeks after the legislature redrew the state’s U.S. House district map in an attempt to flip a Democrat seat amid the ongoing fight to retain the narrow GOP House majority in this year’s midterm elections.

IN DIVIDED NORTH CAROLINA, WHATLEY AND COOPER EMERGE FOR SENATE BATTLE THAT COULD TIP WASHINGTON

Sam Page, Sheriff of Rockingham County, North Carolina, knocked off the state’s Republican Senate leader despite being outspent by a reported 40-1 margin. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

Unofficial results on primary election night showed Page leading Berger by just two votes out of more than 26,000 counted in the 26th Senate District that includes part of Greensboro and neighboring areas.

Page’s lead expanded as elections boards in the two counties within the district reviewed provisional, absentee and other ballots. Later recounts were conducted and Berger’s campaign filed formal protests. But Berger gave up after a hand recount of a small portion of the ballots Tuesday morning showed no change in Page’s razor-thin lead.

“I thank him for wishing me the best moving forward,” Page said in a statement after Berger called him to concede. “Now it’s time for our community to come together and focus on winning in November.”

Page will now advance to the November general election in the GOP-leaning district against Democrat Steve Luking, whom Berger defeated in 2024.

Republican Senate leader Phil Berger presides as the Senate convenes, Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Chris Seward, File)

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Page’s campaign was outspent by Berger’s campaign by more than 40-to-1 through mid-February, finance reports show. That does not include several million dollars that a pro-Berger independent expenditure group spent on mailers and advertising.

North Carolina state senators will pick a new chamber leader in early 2027.

A mother of three who went missing 24 years ago has finally been found after living a double life in North Carolina as her family wrestles with the gut-wrenching news. 

Michele Hundley Smith vanished in December of 2001 at 38 years old after she left her home in Eden to go Christmas shopping, leaving behind her three children, aged 19, 14 and seven.

But after more than two decades of searching, Smith was found ‘alive and well’ on Friday by the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, a release announced. 

‘I kind of want to go outside and scream, “she’s alive, she’s alive”,’ Smith’s cousin Barbara Byrd told WFMYNews 2. 

‘For years, we didn’t know if we were grieving or waiting… My biggest question is to her, “What happened all those years ago in December? What made you leave? What happened?”‘

According to the sheriff’s office, Smith’s case was investigated by multiple agencies including the FBI. 

On February 19, investigators received new information related to her case and made contact with her the following day, the release said.  

However, all the answers may not be found with Smith’s reappearance, as the sheriff’s office said Smith requested her location not be shared. 

Michele Hundley Smith, who went missing 24 years ago, was found on February 20 ‘alive and well’ in North Carolina 

Smith disappeared in December of 2001 at 38 years old while Christmas shopping, leaving behind her three children, aged 19, 14 and 7

‘I understand and respect that she doesn’t want any of us to contact her,’ Byrd told the outlet. 

‘I’m not angry…The biggest answer I had today was she was alive. Nothing else matters right at this moment.’

On Facebook, Smith’s daughter Amanda wrote a lengthy statement following the news that her mother had been found. 

‘As far as my opinions and feelings on my mom…I am ecstatic, I am p***ed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map! Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly I can’t answer that because I don’t even know. My initial reaction would be yes absolutely but then I think of all the hurt…But even then, my mom is only human just as we all are,’ she wrote. 

‘When my mom was a part of my daily life, she showed me a love and bond that will never ever be forgotten. There were mother daughter arguments of course, but right now all I can remember are the smiles we shared, the times together that were happy and the love I felt!’

‘My dad has been in my daily life all of my life, and he shows me love and we have a life that will never be forgotten! There were father daughter arguments as well but all I remember are the smiles we have, the love I feel and the bond we share!

‘Both my dad and my mom deserve to have their choices and their feelings respected as well.’ 

Smith’s disappearance haunted her family for years, leaving them with so many unanswered questions. 

A Facebook page dedicated to her missing mother, Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home, said that Smith had been driving her forest green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van which was never found when she disappeared

‘I don’t know what exactly happened. I’m not even sure til this very day if you are still here on Earth or if you have passed,’ her daughter wrote on Facebook in 2024. 

‘All I do know is that you left a hole in people’s hearts! I cry and mourn for a relationship that will never again be, I cry and mourn for a relationship that was never had …and we will never know, will we?’

‘I love you and I miss you and that’s every single day. I’m angry because of the hurt but I’m mostly angry that my brother and sister had/have to feel hurt and pain. If I were to find you in life, if I was to find out that you did simply run away from everything… I am sure that I would still love you just the same,’ she said, adding that she believed she would still be angry for the pain her siblings also had to endure. 

A Facebook page dedicated to her missing mother, Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home, said that Smith had been driving her forest green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van which was never found when she disappeared. 

‘Michele would have never left her children by choice. We are desperate for answers and we are asking for community support and assistance in trying to find the truth on what happened to Michele and why she mysteriously vanished never to be seen again,’ the page said. 

‘There has been no real investigation into her disappearance to this day almost 20 years later…Lets try and end this nightmare for Michele’s loved ones and bring her home.’ 

The page is set to be repurposed for other missing persons cases.